Martha Rafferty is the daughter of the late Gerry Rafferty. Martha’s father Gerry Rafferty was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer who was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was “Stuck in the Middle with You” in 1973. He was known for his solo hits in the late 1970s including “Baker Street”, “Right Down the Line”, and “Night Owl”.

Martha Rafferty: Bio Summary

Who Is Gerry Rafferty’s Daughter, Martha Rafferty?

Martha Rafferty is the daughter of singer-songwriter, and record producer Gerry Rafferty and his ex-wife Carla Ventilla. Martha is recognized due to her father’s fame. Her date of birth is unknown but she is suspected to have been born in the 1970s. Her mother, Carla Ventilla is from an Italian family in Clydebank.

In 1965, when Martha Rafferty’s parents met, her mother was a 15-year-old girl who was an apprentice hairdresser. Her father was 18 years old at the time. Martha’s parents, Gerry Rafferty and Carla Ventilla got together and dated for some time before marrying in the year 1970. Martha is the only child of her parents.

Martha Rafferty lived with her parents in Scotland before they relocated to the south of England in the late 1970s. The family divided their time between their farm near the Kent–Sussex border and a home in Hampstead, London. Martha’s father Gerry Rafferty had drinking problems which would lead to a divorce from his wife.

Martha’s mother Carla Ventilla divorced her father Gerry Rafferty in 1990. However, despite the divorce, Gerry and Carla remained close. Martha inspired her father Gerry’s song “Mattie’s Rag” from his City To City album, which recounted Gerry’s delight at being reunited with his daughter.

Martha Rafferty is said to be a teacher. She is the mother of a daughter, Celia. She was involved in a relationship with Saul Langston. Per reports, Martha and Saul’s “relationship went downhill very quickly. Part of the reason for the breakup was that she was very anxious that he should attend a particular commune-based rehab unit run by the Steiner group, with which she has close links.”

“His view was that it was not for him. He effectively refused to go and it was that which caused the break-up of the relationship on not the best terms.”

What Happened To Martha Rafferty’s Father?

Martha Rafferty’s singer-songwriter father, Gerry Rafferty died at age 63, on 4 January 2011, in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. He died of liver failure at his daughter Martha’s home in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Before his death, in 2010, he was hospitalized at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he was placed on a life-support machine and treated for multiple organ failures.

Gerry Rafferty was off life support and doctors thought that he might recover after he rallied for a short time. Unfortunately, he died instead of recovering. He was cremated at the Woodside Crematorium in Paisley and his ashes were scattered on Iona. 10 years after Gerry”s death, his daughter Martha released a posthumous album tribute to her father. The album Rest In Blue (2021) was posthumously compiled by Martha.

ALSO, READ: Carla Ventilla: Where is Gerry Rafferty’s ex-wife now?

“I knew that at some point I would want to return to what he’d started and see if there was a way to bring it to fruition,” Martha said. “I actually put a home studio together in 2012, and I got Andy Patterson, the engineer, up to Scotland, but I couldn’t do it. I just wasn’t ready emotionally. It was too difficult. I even along the way suggested it to a few other people, but for some reason, there just wasn’t the right time or place or person to say, ‘Yes, let’s go for it.’”

“Somehow lockdown was the key to everything. Emotionally, I was ready. It was the 10-year anniversary of his death. Bereaving is a weird, non-linear process, but somehow 10 years just felt like the right amount of time to be able to turn back and pick it up.” She revealed that: “For everybody who’s worked on it, it’s been a really emotional process.”

“Andy Patterson had been working with him on the record since 2006-2007, so he’d been there from the beginning. A lot of the musicians he’d worked with over the years remembered recording various parts of the tracks. [Gerry] always had a home studio, and Andy was coming to work with him daily until about eight months before he died.”

EMI Records released a remastered edition of Gerry’s City To City album. Martha said: “My dad was very proud of City To City but I don’t think he felt it was his finest piece of work. Whatever he was working on at the time was his strongest songwriting. Baker Street was always a bit of a cross to bear. It became the song that defined him – the big rock anthem. But that was not what he was striving for.”

“It was unfortunate he got labeled as a one-hit, 70s soft-rock artist when he was a lot more than that.” Martha disclosed that her father “was planning a tour of America but was scared by the momentum he was generating and the kind of people his success attracted. He was very sensitive and had too much integrity to live that kind of life, so he just canceled his US tour, which was unheard of.”

“He was under pressure from his record company to carry on. If he had, he could have had the realms of fame enjoyed by the likes of Elton John but he chose not to. I don’t think he ever regretted it. He knew it was the right decision. It’s hard to look back on that period knowing he had problems with alcohol. It wasn’t obvious.”

According to Martha Rafferty, her father Gerry Rafferty started “drinking early to cope with going on stage.” She said she “always knew he liked a drink but didn’t everyone in Scotland? He knew it was becoming a problem. He tried all the normal routes of abstaining or getting help but he wasn’t able to do it.”

“In the last 20 years, I tried everything I could. It was extremely painful to see him live out his life through alcoholism. We were no different from any other alcoholic family. There was nothing glamorous. Anybody who has lived with somebody who has died through addiction has the same story.”

“Look at Amy Winehouse. She’s another example of how the demands to perform and give people what they want eventually destroyed her.” She also said: “In his heart of hearts, Dad was always trying to stop drinking. Martha added: “I will remember him as the finest human being I’ve ever met.”

Where Is Gerry Rafferty’s Daughter Now?

Martha Rafferty has stayed away from the limelight. Where she is at the moment is unknown. She hasn’t appeared in the news in recent times. She has made it a point to stay out of the public eye. As of 2023, she is still alive but living a private life.

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